Chapter 32: Hell, Yeah, I'm a Goose!

"This is all your fault!"

"What? How is it my fault?"

"You... you," Alex hesitates. "Ok, its not really your fault."

"Damn right, its not," I say.  We're sitting in the local jail, in the cells just behind the lobby, where the not-so-criminal-criminals are held. After we were sent to the headmistress' office, Noah was taken away in an ambulance while Alex and I were taken off to prison. The headmistress suggested I go with him as a witness.

I play with my shoe lace and he scoots closer to the bars. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have, uhm, done that."

I laugh. "Nah, you totally should have sent some innocent guy to hospital," I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes. I swivel round on my butt and lean my back against the wall. Alex does the same.

He leans his head back on the wall and closes his eyes. I look over at him as he opens his mouth to speak. "You always smell like berries."

"What?" I whip my head around further to face him. His eyes are still closed and his adam's apple is bobbing. He looks so peaceful.

"Is it your shampoo? Or do you naturally smell really good?"

"Are you high?" I ask him. He makes a groaning sound and shakes his head a tiny bit. "You so are! Should people be able to bail you out, because I think you should really be in the back with all the other stoned young men."

He scoffs. "You know, the only reason -"

He's cut off by the sound of footsteps coming down the corridor. He stands up and starts pacing. The officer comes to stand in front of me. I quickly scramble up off the floor and dust off my jeans.

"Natalie?" she asks.

"Yeah, that's me," I say to her, looking over at Alex, who's stopped pacing.

"If you wouldn't mind coming with me, then we'll get going," she says, turning on her heel and walking back out. I quickly hurry after her. I look at Alex and poke my tongue at him he rolls his eyes but I see him smile as I walk off with the police officer.

"So, you and Alex are in a relationship?" she asks me as we enter a room with two chairs and a table. She looks at me, a pen in one hand, a clipboard in the other.

"Oh, no!" I say quickly. "We're just... uhm, friends. He has a girlfriend."

"Really?" she raises an eyebrow but shrugs and writes something on her clipboard. "So, just run me through what you saw."

I nod and begin telling her. I start with Bubbles and I walking through the hallway, seeing the large crowd gathered. I recount the fight and the words Alex said, to the officer, Wendy, her name is. I wonder if her husband's name is Bob.

"So, Natalie, would you mind giving me the context of the words he said?" she asks, looking at me from over her keyboard. I look down at my nails and pick them.

"Um, so Noah was my boyfriend and I, um, broke up with him yesterday. I think he was just telling him to stay away from me. Because.... uhm, he's like a big brother to me?" I say, saying the last sentence like its a question.

"Mhm," Wendy raises her eyebrows at her clipboard and nods, writing something down. She sets the clipboard down on the table and gestures for me to sit. I do, and she follows. "So Natalie, you say that Alex beat up this Noah guy -"

"I think so. But, it could have just been him being overprotective of his girlfriend," I quickly say, cutting in.

She raises an eyebrow. "And you really think that Alex cares more about his girlfriend than he does you?" she asks. I freeze, blushing. "I've been talking to Alex's parents, who have agreed to bail him out of here. It seems to me, after talking to both them and you, that Alex did not do this for his girlfriend. We've been in touch with the hospital, Natalie, and those kind of injuries don't just randomly happen. Seeing as those where the words he spoke to Noah, it's very likely he was doing it because he loves someone."

I look up at her. She's looking at me w~ith a deadpan look on her face. I look back down and pick at my nails again, shaking my head, I tell her, "He loves Amanda. Noah probably did something to her."

"I find that very unlikely. We also interviewed Amanda before Noah was taken off school ground. She said she hadn't even talked to Noah this week," Wendy informs me.

I scratch my temple. Wendy stands up and I follow. "Alex is ready to go," she says, looking into the corridor and down the hall. I nod and follow her out of the room.

Alex looks up from where he's sitting on the bench in the cell when he hears Wendy's keys rattle. The door swings open and he runs out.

"Thank God that's over," he says, sliding an arm around my waist and pulling me into him. Wendy raises her eyebrows at us and I try and push Alex off me. All he does is move his arm from my waist to my shoulders.

Wendy gestures for us to follow her and we do. I turn to him. There's no way I can deny why he did it, Wendy definitely made me see that. "Who told you?"

"Bubbles," he says, I turn back around and he rests his head on mine.

What if what Wendy said was right? What if Alex does love me? No, he doesn't, you idiot! He likes Amanda. Maybe he loves me as a friend. A brother would punch up his sister's ex-boyfriend if they were close, right? Maybe its that kind of love.

My phone dings in my pocket and I quickly push myself away from Alex, missing his warmth. Its a text from Amanda.

LOL, Noah dumped you. You're literally not good enough for anyone, I don't know how your parents cope. ;)

***

"You'll lock the house, send the kids to bed at ten, and cook the nachos?" Mum asks me, grabbing her keys from the key table.

"Yes Mum, I will, now go and enjoy your night!" I shoo Mum out the door. She walks out to the waiting car with Dad in it.

"Alex is coming at seven with Felecia and Liam, get the beds ready!" she yells before I close the door. I yell out an 'ok!' before closing the door.

I don't know why the Collins' are staying over, they literally live next year. But apparently, the parents have figured it out. Alex is coming over to 'babysit' all of us. The four adults are going to some hotels for my parents' anniversary.

I twist the heart necklace around my neck. Walking into the storage room, I wonder to myself where Alex is going to sleep. In my bedroom? That's what he would usually do. Nah, he can have the couch.

I drag the mattress out of the store room and make the bed before dragging down Lucas and Paul's so that Felecia doesn't feel lonely. Paul sees me and calls out after me, "Nat, you look like a goose!"

"Hell, yeah, I'm a goose!" I yell out to him and continue to drag down the mattress. I make their beds before walking back into the storeroom and pulling the heavy cot (mine and Lucas's from when we were babies, Paul got a brand new one, since we only had one) out the door. Its too heavy for me to lift, so I make the mattress and leave it in the doorway until Alex arrives, he might be able to help me with it.

I retreat to my room and take out a book, lying down on my bed to read it.

"NAT!" Paul yells up the stairs. I sit up, my hair all messy from lying down too long.

"Yeah?" I yell back down.

"They're here!" I hear Lucas' voice.

"Coming!" I yell back. I jump off my bed and run out of my room and run down the stairs. I straighten my clothes as I run and take my hair out of its messy ponytail. I slide the hair tie onto my wrist and open the door.

"Hi!" I say breathlessly. Felecia is standing there, holding Liam's hand, who can walk now. "Come in!"

Alex, who's standing behind his siblings, pushes Felecia's back forward. She smiles as me and walks in with Liam. Alex walks in after them. He turns to me. We're standing about a foot apart. I look up at his face, he's studying mine with such intensity I look away.

I haven't really seen him much this week, Amanda and him have been hanging out more than ever. Every time I walk past them kissing against his locker, I look away.

I quickly pull my hair up into a high ponytail and flick the hair tie off my wrist, tying it around my hair.

"Could you come and help me with the cot?" I ask him, and hurriedly walk away. He catches up to me quickly and puts a hand on my shoulder, spinning me around. I look at the floor beside him. He places his index finger under my chin and tilts my face up to him. His eyes are hidden by his Ray Bans and his mouth is twisted into a frown and his jaw is clench.

"What's wrong?" he asks me. I look back down at the ground. He moves his finger slightly and I have to move my eyes back to him again.

"Nothing," I say quietly. He uses his other hand to brush a strand of hair behind my ear softly.

"Really? What's wrong, Nat?" he asks, taking off his finger from under my chin.

Should I tell him? Kate knows, she said if I didn't tell someone, she would. But then Alex might think that I'm a needy person that needs to stay away from his girlfriend. Most of her messages have been about him this week, and I'm starting to think I should at least try to stay away from him. Its going to be hard because, a) we live next door, b) we share classes c) Callum and Bubbles are dating, and I usually hang with Bubbles while Alex does with Callum, and d) He's fun to hang around with, not that I would ever tell anyone that.

"Hey, Nat, do you know where-" Felecia walks into the foyer and I take a step away from Alex. Felecia just raises her eyebrows at us and continues. "The remote for the TV is?"

"Oh, yeah, its in the pantry, Mum and Dad hid it from the boys," I say and walk into the kitchen. Alex doesn't follow us. Felecia sits down at the bench and I hand her the remote.

"So, what's going on with you and Alex?" she says, looking at me with a penetrating gaze, her chin propped up on her hand.

"Nothing," I blush and look down.

"Sure," she rolls her eyes.

"Alex has a girlfriend!" I say. "We're just friends."

To try and avoid her gaze, I look over to the entrance to the kitchen. Alex is standing there, looking at me. I don't know if we've ever really been together while other people are talking and shipping us, except maybe in detention, but that was different. Alex clears his throat, his voice comes out husk-ish and low.

"The boys," he clears his throat again. "They, um, want the remote."

Felecia chucks it to him and he quickly walks out of the room. I plop down in a bench seat and sigh. Felecia leans back in her chair and continue to look at me.

"Can't you see the way he looks at you?" she shakes her head. "Its like his eyes are turning red and starting to form heart shapes!"

I laugh. "He has a girlfriend. I wish everyone would stop shipping... us. He has a girlfriend! I'm not good enough for him. His hair's so soft, and his eyes... they're like the ocean, they're so blue! And he always smells really, really, really good. He can always tell if somethings wrong. I feel safe around him. He's never made me feel as though he doesn't want to be around me, and he's always asking me if he's okay. But him and Amanda, they're like a power couple, Amanda's the queen bee and Alex is way too handsome to be with a girl like me. He would never, ever want to be with someone like me. There's no way. He's too kind, too smart."

I suddenly turn really red. Felecia has a big grin on her face. She stands up, her chair scraping the floor. "Don't worry I won't tell him. Well... I might give him a few hints about how you think he's handsome and kind and all that, so that I can help kick-start your relationship!"

And with that, she runs off to the living room. I sigh and start opening the fridge, getting out the nacho ingredients. As I start chopping the onions, I decide I'll just have to act natural. Alex and I are friends. That's all we'll ever be.

"Hey, Alex!" I yell. A minute later, he walks around the corner and stands in the door way. I wipe my eyes.

"Yeah?" he asks. "Why're you crying!"

"Oh, onions," I hold one up for him to see and then dry my hands on a tea towel. "Can you help me with the cot? Its for Liam."

"Oh, yeah, sure," he says, and follows me up the stairs. On three, we lift it, carry it down the stairs, stop for a break, and then continue to carry it into the lounge room, with all the other beds.

"Thanks, babe," I say. He grins at me and plops down next to Lucas, picking up an Xbox controller and looking at the TV. I walk out and continue to make the nachos.

***

I'm in the middle of cutting up the avocado for the guacamole when I feel a presence behind me. Hands snake across my hips and stop on my stomach. I suck in a breath when I'm pulled into a hard chest. His hands wrap around me tighter and he plays with the hem of my T-shirt.

Alex's mouth is a millimeter away from my ear, and I shiver when he speaks into it. "I heard you thought I was handsome."

He moves his head down into the nape of my neck and my head tilts slightly to the side so that he can move easier. I can't think straight, he smells so good. His soft, curly hair tickles my cheek. I'm about to reply when he presses a kiss to the skin between my shoulder and neck. I draw in a breath.

"Alex," I breathe.

He kisses the spot again and trails his lips up the side of my neck. I think I'm frozen. The only thing I can feel is his arms and his hair on my cheek, slowly moving as he does. My heart is beating a million miles a minute, and his arms wrap around my stomach even tighter.

"Alex," I say again when he starts trailing kisses up my jaw. He doesn't stop doing it. By now, the knife has dropped out of my hands and they're shaking.

He stops at my chin and moves his face up to my lips. I turn my face to the left and look up at him. His eyes meet mine and we slowly move even closer together. I close my eyes and tilt my head to the side. I'm breathing really heavily now. I can feel his warm breath on my face. I know he's less than a millimeter away from me.

His hands tighten on my front and we lean in further. Our lips barely touch the other's when we hear a cough. I whip my head around.

Lucas, Paul and Felecia are standing there, their mouths wide open. Paul is holding a broken remote control for the Xbox in his right hand.

I am so embarrassed. How much did they see? The whole thing. Oh my God, I'm so embarrassed. Alex drops his hands and I continue to chop the avocado, pushing strands of hair behind my ears and pretending no one's here. I hear Alex leave my side and talk to the others in a whisper, so I can't hear what he's saying.

When I think they're all gone, I look up towards the doorway. Alex is standing there, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed. He's studying me. My cheeks heat up and I push my hair back again, off my face. He swiftly turns around and walks away.

What the hell just happened? You almost kissed Alex. Your lips actually brushed. You're very, very confused. Did Alex just (almost) cheat on Amanda? He's probably done it heaps of times. I'm probably another one of his games.

I shake my head and chop the avocado faster. I don't realize what I've done until I see the red blood. I drop the knife and look at my thumb. Ow, it hurts. I can see the bone. I cry out in pain. The avocado is stained red and all I can see is blood. It keeps oozing out of my wound.

My head starts to thump and I immediately crave some pain killers. "Alex!" I yell, he'll probably know how to deal with this.

I hear footsteps coming around the corner and I look up. Alex looks nervous, something really unusual. He looks at me.

"Yeah Nat. You're pale, what's wrong. Oh my God!" he rushes over to me. "Are you okay?"

I just look at him and he nods his head as if to say, well, yeah that was a dumb thing to ask. He takes my hand and leads me to the sink. He turns on the water and gently washes away the blood. He turns the water off when he's done. He looks at my cut and I look away. Its not a normal cut. Instead of it being just straight through, its shaped like a 'p' as though I twisted the knife after cutting through the skin.

"What the hell did you do, Nat?" he asks me, squeezing my thumb with one hand and turning on the water and running a cloth under it with the other. He presses the cloth onto my forehead and fills up a cup, handing it and an aspirin to me.

I take the pill and press the wet cloth further onto my forehead. He leads me up the stairs and into the bathroom, where he wets my hand again, rubs some cream on - that stings heaps, by the way - and puts a band-aid on the wound. Its still throbbing, but there's less pain.

He takes the cloth off my head and pushes my hair behind my ears. "You're really pale, you should lie down."

"But what about dinner? The nachos are probably burning!" I start to panic. He presses a finger onto my lips and scoops me up, bridal-style. I lean my head against the area just under his left shoulder. I whisper to him, "My thumb's dead, not my feet."

"I don't care," he says and carries me into the lounge room. Lucas and Paul are sitting on bean bags playing Xbox and Felecia and Liam are sitting on the couch, flicking through a magazine. "Move," he says rudely to her. She pokes her tongue out at him and starts to get up.

"Its fine Felecia," I try to say loudly but it comes out hoarse and quiet.

"Nah, I don't know what's wrong with you, but you needa lie down," she says and pulls over a bean bag for herself.

"Nat!" Liam yells out in his baby voice. Alex walks over to the couch and lies me down, scooping Liam up before he puts me down.

"Thanks, Alex," I say, just before I fall asleep.

***

"Should we wake her?"

"Alex said dinner was ready."

"But I think she needs sleep."

"Guys! What're you doing! She needs sleep!"

I open my eyes and see three faces peering down at me. "I think she's awake," Paul whispers.

"No, duh," Felecia rolls her eyes. My eyes move to the figure becoming larger in my peripheral vision. Alex is carrying four bowls and a tiny, plastic bowl filled with random stuff (or food, whatever you wanna call it) - probably for Liam. He puts all the bowls down. He quickly hurries over to me as the others collect their plates.

He kneels down and puts the back of his hand on my forehead. I laugh at him and grab his wrist, pulling it off me. He frowns. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good," I say, laughing at his concern again.

"I'll go and get your dinner," he says and walks off. The other three are giving me strange glances and I just close my eyes.

Alex returns a minute later and helps me sit up. My head starts throbbing immediately. I shiver. "Are you cold?" he asks and before I can stop him, he picks the blanket up off the floor and pulls it around me. He hands me my bowl and wraps an arm around me, pulling me into him. I lean my head against him and eat.

The others are watching some marvel movie and I think its about Spiderman or something. Liam's been fed and is sleeping soundly in the cot. Everyone's had a shower. Damn, Alex is good. I put my bowl down on the table and lean back into him.

"Your a good cook," I whisper to him, trying not to distract the twins and Felecia from their movie.

"I literally only did the guacamole," he whispers back. He's eating his food with one arm around me, the other spooning food into his mouth.

The movie continues for a bit and I fall asleep. I feel Alex get up and turn off the TV, getting everyone into bed. Then he takes me up to my room.

"Good night, dude," he grins at me and closes the door behind him. He must be going to sleep downstairs on the couch.

I feel like I've lost something, Like something's missing. I can't get to sleep. I toss and turn for about half an hour before I get up and go downstairs for a glass of milk. I drink it, go to the toilet, and return to my room.

When I enter, I see a light on in the bathroom. Alex. I lie back down in bed and wait for him to finish. He comes back into my room after switching the bathroom light off.

"Couldn't sleep?" he ask as he curls up behind me. I nod my head and close my eyes. My back is to him, and he's facing the same way. After about five minutes, he moves closer to me and wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me into him. His head rests in the nape of my neck and my heads' on the pillow. His hands hold me tighter and I finally drift off to sleep, feeling like I've found the missing thing I lost.

***

I wake up to the sound of the door slamming. I sit up in bed and look at my door. Its open. I swing my legs off the bed and walk out of my room and down the stairs.

Mum and Dad are back and its twelve in the afternoon. The Collins' must've left. The door must've slammed because of the wind.

I pour myself some cereal and am adding the milk when Mum walks into the kitchen.

"Hey, Mum," I say.

"Did you have a good night? Alex told me you cut yourself. Are you really that clumsy, Nat? Anyway, I spoke to Felecia and she said Alex fixed you up. Such a sweet boy, isn't he? Much better than that Nigel kid."

"Noah, Mum, his name was Noah," I say through gritted teeth. She waves me off.

"Anyhoo, your friend Claudia rang your phone and I answered. She says you need to meet her at the diner looking nice at two."

"Kay," I say, sitting down at the table and eating my cereal while picking up my phone and scrolling through my Instagram. Mum walks away. A post catches my eye. "Hey, Mum? What time did the Collins' leave?"

"Around, eight. Why?" she calls back.

"Nothing!" I say. I like the photo. Its of Amanda and Alex kissing on Alex's Instagram. They must've hooked up straight after. Jerk.

I decide to humor myself. I type 'cute' into the comments and add one love heart of each color. I grin and post it. Ha. That playboy jerk will have to learn to try not to kiss me next time. Modest, Nat. Real modest.

I shut my phone off and continue to eat my cereal. Then I retreat upstairs and pull out 'Mockingjay' by Suzanne Collins and start reading. I read for an hour and a half before walking into my closet and picking out some Nike leggings and a matching cropped shirt. Maybe if i do my hair nice, Bubbles will approve that I dressed up. I take it out of my braids and add some of this weird 'glitter spray' Mum bought me for my last birthday. My hair's shimmery and curly and bounces as I walk. I collect my purse, phone and some money.

"Bye Mum! I'm going to meet Bub- Claudia!" I yell.

"Be back by ten!" she yells. Ten? I doubt afternoon tea or whatever Bubbles has planned will take that long.

I drive to the diner and bop my head along to the beat of 'Chained to the rhythm' by Katy Perry. I hop out of my car when I reach the diner.

"Hi Nat!" Bubbles calls. I walk over to her. "I told you to dress up!"

"I did! See the hair?" I shake it at her and she rolls her big blue eyes. "Why'd I have to dress up, anyway?"

"Because Callum and I have set up a double date!" she says.

"What?" I say.

"With you and Alex, of course!" she says.

"Alex has a girlfriend!" I yell at her. Although he did technically cheat on her last night. I blush at the memory.

"But you like him, and we ship you," she shrugs and walks inside. "Don't worry we won't bring up the fact that its a double date while you're in the booth with us."

I roll my eyes and we plop down at the table with the boys, me on the side with Alex, Bubbles with Callum.

"Hey, babe," I say. He hooks an arm around my waist and pulls me into him. I remind myself I have to stay away from him or the Amanda situation will get worse. I shove him off me and slide to the edge of the seat. He looks hurt and I look away.

"So..." Callum starts, thinking of a topic. He looks to the menus. "What should we order?'

"I'll take a vanilla milkshake and Nat'll have a blueberry muffin and a strawberry thick shake," Alex says, his arms crossed across his chest, his back leaning against the wall. He side eyes me and looks back at Callum quickly. How did he know that. Bubbles looks at me. I nod, and she gets up to go order for us.

"So, what's going on with that modelling shoot in Italy?" Callum asks Alex. I wipe my head around to face him.

"Modeling shoot?!" I ask him, forgetting to act cool and ignore him.

"I'm going away for the week to do some modelling in Italy," he says, looking down, not meeting my eyes. "This company wants me to do an ad"

"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask him.

He shrugs, still looking at the napkin dispenser. "Didn't have a chance. You were avoiding me all week, for some reason, I didn't think you'd care."

I look down and bite my lip. Callum clears his throat. "Uhm, how's French now, Alex?"

The boys talk for sometime until our food is delivered. Bubbles keeps looking at me nervously. I don't say anything for the whole hour, and I avoid looking at Alex, but I can tell we're definitely sitting on the opposite sides of the seat, not wanting to be anywhere near each other. It gets really awkward at some point, and I collect my purse and stand up.

"I, um, have to be home soon," I say. Bubbles looks at me, guilt on her face. I smile at her. "See you, Bubbles."

I leave the store. I have to stay away from him. Its for the best. But the question is: Can I?

_________________________________________________________

Hi!

Just so you know: the gross bit in this chapter wasn't written by me (but I edited it so it sounded like I was writing) my friend did it. Thank you!

My feet are really itchy. ah, they hurtttt!

Happy new year! Hope you have a great 2019!

My feet still hurt. Ow. Sorry for the slow update and the bad writing. Bye! Hope you enjoyed! Vote, comment!